Welding is a process that has increasingly become ubiquitous in all industries. Welding is, at its core, simply a way of bonding two pieces of metal. While there are other techniques of joining metal (e.g., riveting, brazing, and soldering, for instance), welding has become the method of choice for its strength, efficiency and versatility.
Welding systems can generate a welding current output in excess of 100 amps. Such welding systems typically require a fuel-powered engine to drive an electric generator, which in turn generates the required current for the specific welding operation. The size of the engine and electric generator is dictated by the maximum welding current output rating of the welder. For instance, a welder that is rated to generate a 300-amp, 33.3 volt arc can require 10 kilowatts of power to generate such an arc. Thus, the engine in such a welder must have sufficient horse power to drive an electric generator to generate at least 10 kilowatts of power so as to supply the maximum welding current output rating of the welder at any given time.
As expected, such welding systems can utilize a significant amount of power. Accordingly, there has been a recent push to provide more energy efficient welding systems. To achieve this efficiency objective, it is advantageous to provide welding systems having two or more operating modes, such as an idle mode (i.e., energy conservation mode) and a normal mode (i.e., operation mode). However, a need still remains for an efficient means of dynamically switching between an energy conservation mode and an operation mode, so as to maximize the energy efficiency of such welding systems.